Coming to Terms with the Past in Australia

"I will discuss three issues which pose difficulties for an account of reparative justice in cases of historical injustices. First, the problem of explaining why existing citizens of a political society owe reparation for injustices that they had no role in perpetrating. Second, the problem of determining what counts as just reparation and how this should be determined; and third, the difficulty of explaining how individuals can make claims in respect to wrongs done to their parents or ancestors. In the course of my discussion of these issues, I will propose an alternative interpretation of reparative justice and its requirements." (excerpt)